79 wings created for Pak-Afghan border management: Mushahid

ISLAMABAD: India has deployed additional contingents of troops along the Line of Control (LoC) and aircraft squadrons on forward bases, Senator Mushahid Hussain told reporters here on Thursday.

Mushahid, who is the chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Defence, was briefing the media after a meeting of Senate committees that was held to discuss relations with India and Afghanistan.

After a rise in Pakistan-India tensions, New Delhi has deployed additional contingents of troops along the Line of Control, said Mushahid. He added that India has brought Su-35 aircraft squadrons to forward bases.

Pakistan's armed forces are on high alert and ready to respond to any Indian misadventures in a befitting manner, said the chairman.

Mushahid added that India had violated the ceasefire agreement 58 times over the past month after the Uri attack and 103 times during the past year and that there have been 213 border violations by Afghanistan.

Indian forces violated the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir twice on Wednesday, killing one man and injuring three people.

The senator also condemned Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks against Pakistan at the BRICS summit in Goa over the weekend.

Modi at BRICS urged leaders to take a strong and united stand against the "mothership of terrorism" in the South Asian region, in a thinly veiled reference to Pakistan.

India is yet to present evidence of the so-called 'surgical strike', said Mushahid.

He said 79 new wings have been created for Pakistan-Afghan border management.

The senator said there were plans for 78 new crossing points along the Pak-Afghan border. Sixteen such crossing points have been decided on, he added.